As we listen to ballads, we react. We find the stories entertaining, engaging, disturbing, incomprensible, etc.Sometimes we respond emotionally, sometimes not. But basically, a ballad is a narrative, a story with the various story elements present, however much compressed. This means that we can use all of the tools that researchers have devised to explore stories. Now the reason that researchers explore stories is to shed light on important questions. The nature of the question that the researcher is interested in examining determines the approach or set of approaches that the researcher must use or choose among. The curriculum of this course asks students to become familiar with some of these approaches and learn to apply one or more of them in an exploration culminating in a research paper. A fundamental question is what is the ballad, what is the researcher going to examine? Is it one ballad narrowly defined as it exists in one recording one instance? Or does the research explore the subject through various versions across time and in different places? This is up to the researcher to decide. The more he/she attempts to do in the research, the more work will be involved, the more general will be the results, and the less relevant to specific instances of the subject . The more he/she limits the scope of research, the more narrow and specific will be the results. Here is the paradox, you can learn a little about a broad subject or a lot about a very narrow subject. Researchers seem to make this sort of decision unconsciously, as an expression of their approach to life in general. It is important, however, to do this in as conscious a way as possible. Here are some questions that we can bring to the study of ballads along with the type of research that the question demands:
What are the characteristics of the ballad itself? Answering this question involves literary research and analysis, a literary approach The researcher looks at characteristics of the ballad like:
Story elements - characters, plot, dialogue, etc.
rhyme and meter schemes
genre characteristics (Is it one of a group of ballads that share technical similarities?)
The integration of music into the ballad as performed (this involves musicological approaches)
recording at times
describing/transcribing
musical genre characteristics
A ballad, like any document is of possible importance to the extent to which it helps researchers to understand history. Researchers can look at a novel as a historical document. Ballads can, then become important in historical research where the foci will be
The authenticity of the document
The relation of the ballad to other historical documents
The historical context of the ballad
What is the history of a particular ballad? This sort of inquiry involves folkloric/linguistic research
How is the ballad defined (text, literary characteristics)
What documentary evidence exists of the ballad in earlier times
What is the geographic distribution of the ballad.
What is the range of variation of the ballad.
How does the ballad evolve through time and space
What social trends, pressures, and responses are evident in the content of the ballad? Answering these questions involves the use of content analysis as applied to sociological questions.
What does the ballad tell us about human emotions and psychological processes? The researcher can examine and use the various psychological theories both to gain an understanding of the importance of the ballad to people and the utility of the theories in explaining the ballads.Answering this question or questions involves the use of both content and symbolic analysis as applied psychological questions Approaches include:
Freudian - applying an analysis of the symbolic content of ballads as suggested by the various concepts that Freudians employ in their analysis
Other theories that researchers may use or examine:
Cognitive theory (Piaget)
Lifespan Developmental Theory (Erickson)
What does the ballad tell us about the customs and culture of the society in which the ballad is found? This question involve the use of culturalanthropological methods
Using content analysis to examine
kinship systems
cultural definitions of gender
power relations between people
social institutions
economic fundamentals
Using life history analysis to examine balladeers and their place in their community
What are the characteristics of the ballad itself? Answering this question involves literary research and analysis, a literary approach The researcher looks at characteristics of the ballad like:
A ballad, like any document is of possible importance to the extent to which it helps researchers to understand history. Researchers can look at a novel as a historical document. Ballads can, then become important in historical research where the foci will be
What is the history of a particular ballad? This sort of inquiry involves folkloric/linguistic research
What social trends, pressures, and responses are evident in the content of the ballad? Answering these questions involves the use of
content analysis as applied to sociological questions.
What does the ballad tell us about human emotions and psychological processes? The researcher can examine and use the various psychological theories both to gain an understanding of the importance of the ballad to people and the utility of the theories in explaining the ballads.Answering this question or questions involves the use of both content and symbolic analysis as applied psychological questions Approaches include:
What does the ballad tell us about the customs and culture of the society in which the ballad is found? This question involve the use of cultural anthropological methods